Online dating portraits

At night, he has the power to transform himself into a panther, where he haunts the forest, runs through the savana and drinks from torrents.

He is a descendant of Aido Samba, one of the 42 Kings of Adamawa, who during the eighteenth century carried the flag for the Jihad (holy war) of Ousman Dan Fodio.

A graduate from the University of London and an economic advisor for the Ghanaian administration, The King of Akropong holds for the last sixteen years the “sacred seat” of the Akuapem-Asona, one of the seven major Akan clans.

Formerly a chief administator and cabinet chief for the finance Minister of Cameroun in 1964, Kamga Joseph is the thirteenth Fon of Bandjun.

On the day of his predecessor’s funeral, he was stopped in the Bandjun market by two Bamileke chiefs, “the hangmen”, in the middle of the nobles and princes who wept the deceased King.

Formerly, during his coronation, an Oni had to embrace the sword of justice, and enter into his palace on a cloth stiffened by the dry blood of sacrificed men and women.

Today the Oni is a rich businessman, with several vaste properties in Nigeria and England.

From 1988 to 1991, French photographer Daniel Laine photographed 70 African monarchs, “whose dynasties marked the history of Africa until the middle of the twentieth century.” With hundreds of monarchs to choose from, Laine focused on those who continued to “retain a traditional and spiritual authority that is difficult for the Western mind to comprehend.” Laine recalls the difficulties of getting permission for the photographs, the sensitive diplomatic negotiations involved in many cases.

A war in Sudan prevented Laine from photographing the king of Shiluk, a descendant of black dynasties that ruled Egypt.

When a panther is killed by a hunter, the Fon from Bamileke region are afraid.